Asymmetric reversible structural switching of a diene coordination polymer promoted by UV-visible light

In natural and artificial systems,reversible reactions are commonly asymmetric with respect to the time scale and nature of the stimuli which drive the forward and backward processes.In applications for which switching behavior is required,it is desirable that the reversible reaction goes as close to symmetric as possible;however,such systems are uncommon.Herein,we report an example of ultraviolet(UV)-visible light-regulated asymmetric reversible structural switching involving a diene-based coordination polymer,CP1 and its monocyclobutane product,CP1a.It is possible to cycle at least ten times through a forward [2+2] photocycloaddition reaction and the reverse,photocleavage reaction.A single cycle can be completed within a few minutes.The transformation is accompanied by fast and distinct fluorescence changes,arising from optimisation of the reaction conditions.Density functional theory calculations allow rationalisation of the asymmetric reversible transformation between CP1 and CP1a rather than between CP1 and its dicyclobutane product CP1b.This work provides a clear illustration of reversible structural switching which approaches symmetric behaviour with respect to reaction rate and stimuli.The insights gained from this work also assist in the design of fast,reversible switching materials.

Effect of martensitic transformation on nano/ultrafine-grained structure in 304 austenitic stainless steel

304 austenitic stainless steel was cold rolled in the range of 20%-80%reductions and then annealed at 700-900°C for 60 sto obtain nano/ultrafine-grained（NG/UFG）structure.Transmission electron microscopy,electron backscatter diffraction and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the resulting microstructures.The results showed that with the increase of cold reduction,the content of martensite was increased.The steel performed work hardening during cold-working owing to the occurrence of strain induced martensite which nucleated in single shear bands.Further rolling broke up the lath-type martensite into dislocation-cell type martensite because of the formation of slip bands.Samples annealed at 800-960°C for 60 swere of NG/UFG structure with different percentage of nanocrystalline（60-100 nm）and ultrafine（100-500 nm）grains,submicron size（500-1000 nm）grains and micron size（〉1000 nm）grains.The value of the Gibbs free energy exhibited that the reversion mechanism of the reversion process was shear controlled by the annealing temperature.For a certain annealing time during the reversion process,austenite nucleated first on dislocation-cell type martensite and the grains grew up subsequently and eventually to be micrometer/submicrometer grains,while the nucleation of austenite on lath-type martensite occurred later resulting in nanocrystalline/ultrafine grains.The existence of the NG/UFG structure led to a higher strength and toughness during tensile test.

Reversibility of the structure and dewaterability of anaerobic digested sludge

The reversibility of the structure and dewaterability of broken anaerobic digested sludge（ADS）is important to ensure the efficiency of sludge treatment or management processes.This study investigated the effect of continuous strong shear（CSS）and multipulse shear（MPS）on the zeta potential,size（median size,d（50））,mass fractal dimension（DF）,and capillary suction time（CST）of ADS aggregates.Moreover,the self-regrowth（SR）of broken ADS aggregates during slow mixing was also analyzed.The results show that raw ADS with d（50） of 56.5μm was insensitive to CSS–SR or MPS–SR,though the size slightly decreased after the breakage phase.For conditioned ADS with d（50） larger than 600μm,the breakage in small-scale surface erosion changed to large-scale fragmentation as the CSS strength increased.In most cases,after CSS or MPS,the broken ADS had a relatively more compact structure than before and d（50） is at least 200μm.The CST of the broken fragments from optimally dosed ADS increased,whereas that corresponding to overdosed ADS decreased.MPS treatment resulted in larger and more compact broken ADS fragments with a lower CST value than CSS.During the subsequent slow mixing,the broken ADS aggregates did not recover their charge,size,and dewaterability to the initial values before breakage.In addition,less than 15%self-regrowth in terms of percentage of the regrowth factor was observed in broken ADS after CSS at average velocity gradient no less than 1905.6 sec^（-1）.